Photo Credit: Noel Lanier
Entering pit road in sixth after posting the sixth best average across the four segments, Denny Hamlin’s pit crew gave him a lighting fast pit stop to take over the top spot. He would lead the final 10 laps, holding of Kevin Harvick, to score the victory in the Sprint All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It marks the first All-Star victory for Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota.
“It means so much,” he stated. “You want win the 500, 600 and Brickyard, but you want to be an all-star as well. It’s a great day. It’s just an unbelievable day. It was possible with (crew chief) Dave (Roger)’s last adjustment and that pit crew – that’s all I can say. They carried me all day long.”
Harvick would go on to finish second following a poor qualifying effort that saw the defending series champion start at the back of the field.
“He saw us coming and I was good on the middle lane but needed all the air that I could with how it was pushing,” he commented. “It just pushed up the hill and I lost all the ground that I had made up.”
Kurt Busch would finish third after winning the fourth segment of the event. He came off pit road in the second spot and thought he had a shot to win, but feels Hamlin jumped the final restart.
“You see those two marks on the wall and he went two tenths before,” Busch commented. “I guess I was asleep at the wheel.”
Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-five, while Kyle Busch finished sixth in his first race back since his injury at Daytona International Speedway in February. Busch’s night wasn’t without drama, though, as he suffered a pit road penalty for speeding and had to make an unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel.
“I wish I would’ve beat my teammate for fifth,” he commented. “Great race back. I was really comfortable in the car and it was good progress for next week in running 600 miles. Just need to minimize our mistakes.”
Kasey Kahne finished seventh after winning the first segment, followed by Joey Logano, Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Keselowski had the best average finish across the four segments, but would speed off of pit road on the final stop, resulting in a having to restart at the tail end of the field.
“The car that gets the clean air is going to have the advantage and that was nothing new tonight,” he stated post-race. “Its been that way the past three years, perhaps even worse than this year. I told my crew chief that I’d rather go down swinging so I swung and missed.”
